‘FAKE
NEWS’
ATTACKS
TIGERS
WIN
OPENER
A St. Paddy’s Day
to remember
in Heppner
SUNSHINE WEEK/2A
SPORTS/1B
COMMUNITY/6A
TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2018
142nd Year, No. 104
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Schools
plan for
student
walkout
Pendleton, Hermiston
offer guidelines for
nationwide protest
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Jeff Kohl, owner of Advanced Commercial Flooring out of Richland, uses a roller to set flooring in the main room at the Harkenrider
Center on Monday in Hermiston.
Finishing touches
With parking lot and
kitchen equipment still
in the works, senior
center move-in delayed
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The
Harkenrider
Center
building is almost complete, but
Hermiston seniors will have to
wait until August or September
before they can move in.
Commercial kitchen equip-
ment and other furnishings will
be installed once the building is
finished in April, and city manager
Byron Smith said the city can’t
work on creating the extensive
parking area planned for the center
until the construction site around
the building is cleaned up.
“We need to do parking
improvements, and we need to get
the construction guys out of the
way before we can do that,” he
said at the start of a tour given to
the city council Monday night.
Before the tour Willard Fordice,
the director for the senior center,
told the East Oregonian that the
More inside:
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston Senior Center director Willard Fordice talks about
the new facilities during a tour of the Harkenrider Center by the
Hermiston City Council on Monday in Hermiston.
seniors had been hoping to start
having meals at the center during
the spring or summer after moving
all of their equipment and furniture
in, but once the decision was made
to wait to do the parking lot until
the building was done, the opening
date was moved back for safety
reasons.
“We can’t bring seniors across
the muddy parking lot,” he said.
When complete, the single-level
parking lot with a bus drop-off
and extra handicapped spaces will
stretch through what is currently
Ridgeway Avenue and the crum-
bling upper and lower lots behind
the Hermiston Public Library.
While Fordice said the seniors
have been waiting a long time for
the new building, the good news is
they will have lots to put in it once
it is complete. They have been
successful in securing grants for
equipment to fill the large commer-
cial kitchen, and are working on
more grants for other types of
furnishings and improvements.
“Everything has come through
so far,” he said.
Fordice joked that the equip-
ment from the old center was so old
it “came over on the Mayflower”
and should have been replaced
years ago. Now the group will have
new refrigerators, freezers, stoves
and a commercial dishwasher to
handle the senior center’s twice-a-
week meals and other events.
After the old senior center was
torn down as part of the sale of
the former fairgrounds on Orchard
Avenue to Hermiston School
District, most of what was inside
was put into storage. The seniors
will soon begin sorting through to
see what will be re-used in the new
building and sell the rest in a yard
sale.
The new building is 7,000
square feet, with a 4,000 square
foot unfinished daylight base-
ment. During Monday’s tour, city
recreation director Brandon Artz
See SENIOR/8A
The Hermiston City Council voted Monday to accept full ownership of the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center, signing an agreement with former co-owners Umatilla County. For more, see Page 8A.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Visitors to the Pendleton Gun Show check out the wares Saturday at the Pendleton Convention
Center. The event is the largest gun show in Eastern Oregon, according to its organizer, and raises
money for the Pendleton City Club. For more, see Page 3A.
On Wednesday at 10 a.m.,
students across the country will
walk out of classrooms for 17
minutes on the one-month anni-
versary of one of the deadliest
school shootings in U.S. history.
Local school officials are
taking different approaches to the
protest.
Pendleton High School Prin-
cipal Dan Greenough said he met
with school staff to discuss the
issue last week and devised an
alternative activity. On Monday,
teachers read a script to students
explaining their rationale.
“While we do not want to
discourage remembrance activ-
ities for the horrific events in
Florida, we as a school should
promote something that may
make a positive difference
moving forward,” the script
states. “While a walkout brings
attention to the situation, it gener-
ally has little to no lasting effect.
As a replacement for this activity,
we are proposing an alternative.
What we would like to suggest
is that in place of walking out,
all students at Pendleton High
School take action to promote the
feeling of community here in the
school.”
As a part of “What’s Your
17?” campaign, students will be
shown a video in their classrooms
See WALKOUT/8A
PENDLETON
Students
oppose ag
teacher’s
resignation
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Students and parents packed
the boardroom at the Pendleton
School District central office to
protest the resignation of Seely
Daniels, the Pendleton High
School agriculture instructor and
FFA adviser.
During an emotionally charged
board meeting Monday, most
of the audience members used
the public comment platform
to persuade the superintendent
and the school board to reverse
their decision to accept Daniels’
resignation.
The board unanimously voted
at its March 6 board meeting to
accept that resignation, effective
June 15. But multiple students
and Daniels said she didn’t have
a choice but to resign.
Following the meeting, Super-
intendent Chris Fritsch declined
to comment on the details
surrounding Daniels’ resignation.
The students who spoke before
the board characterized Daniels
as a teacher who went above and
beyond for her students, sparked
interest in agriculture and guided
them through tough times.
They also voiced frustration
See TEACHER/8A